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Ginger beer

Ginger beer

Ginger beer, homemade ginger beer – cold and slightly fizzy with that distinctive flavor – transports one back to hot summer days in South Africa.

Popular recipes used in South Africa, are with water, sugar, Jamaica ginger concentrate and yeast with tartaric or citric acid and cream of tartar – and then there is the ginger beer made with the cultivated plant.

My challenge has been how to make it here, living in a condo with limited space.

This recipe is for a small quantity and uses bakers yeast, fresh and ground ginger with a little lemon juice for the acid. It is a refreshing ginger drink that is not too sweet. If you have a particularly sweet tooth, a little more sugar could be added.

Place 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water into a saucepan and stir, while heating, until the sugar has dissolved.

Add the fresh and ground ginger to the syrup, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Set aside for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Strain the ginger syrup (press the ginger with the back of a spoon to extract all the flavor!) into a large container, jar or bucket, with a lid.

Stir the teaspoon of sugar and the yeast into the ¼ cup of water. Set aside for a few minutes to hydrate and froth.

Add all the remaining ingredients, and the frothed yeast, to the ginger syrup.

Mix well and cover.

Set aside in a warm place for 36-48 hours, during which time fermentation will take place.

The raisins will move up and down and will eventually remain suspended, mostly near the top.

Scoop the raisins and froth off the top of the ginger beer and use a funnel to fill the bottles to within about 3 inches of the tops. Seal the bottles.

Refrigerate the ginger beer to stop any further fermentation.

Allow 1-2 days for the flavors to mature before serving over crushed ice with a slice of lemon.

Notes

Once the ginger beer has been bottled, fermentation could continue if it is not refrigerated. Release the air pressure build up in the neck of the bottle, by loosening the cork or top a little. If tightly sealed, the bottles could explode – what a mess☹

I was disappointed that the beer had very little carbonation. I was able to correct that by removing it from the fridge, adding a little more sugar to the bottle and letting it sit at room temp for 24 hrs. Other than that it had good flavor, although not quite gingery enough for me; like mine to burn slightly in the back of the throat! It was also not quite sweet enough. Will add a little more sugar next time. Color was like your pics which I assume is from using brown sugar. I’m used to ginger beer being a light grey color. I’ve collected 15 or so recipes online and am going to make each one to see which I like best. Although there are similarities in them, each one is slightly different in the process used. Ingredients tend to be much the same.
Thanks for your help and concern.

Nice to hear from you, Bobby! I am sorry your ginger beer was not quite the way you would have liked it. Recipes are, after all, merely guidelines – we all have personal preferences. The recipe actually calls for white sugar – which is generally used in all recipes unless otherwise specified. The color is mainly due to the addition of ginger.
I am really happy that you have found a recipe that you like.

Bobby, there are always options. I would leave it as is for the rest of the day – don’t stir it. You could bottle it this evening, put the corks in about ¼ way and leave the bottles out of the fridge. I did this with one of the trials, leaving the bottles in a container in the bath. You will hear the corks pop off if the pressure becomes too great. A screw top is more difficult, but you could check by unscrewing slightly after about 12 hours. There will also be bubbles on the surface. Maybe refrigerate at this stage. The longer it ferments out of the fridge the stronger it will become with a little more of a ‘kick’:)
Keep me posted – Thanks

Going by the pic of the “ginger beer ready to bottle”, it looks like you have not used a container with a tight seal. Does this not prevent the build up of carbonation? Almost all of the other recipes I’ve seen tell you to seal container.
I’ve not yet completed the process, hence the lack of a rating. Will come back on a few days after I’ve had a chance to sample the finished product and rate it.
Cheers.
Bobby

Bobby, the container need not seal tightly. Once the ginger beer is bottled, fermentation could continue – even in the fridge. As the bottles are sealed, it is a good idea to check that the pressure does not build up too much in the neck of the bottle. Small bubbles may be visible.
I look forward to your comments!

Thank you for the quick response. I was about to go to bed and because I was concerned that something might go wrong during the night I decided to check if you had responded. Glad I did as I can now leave the lid on loosely and sleep without worrying :-). Thanks again.

By tomorrow some time the raisins should all be floating on or near the top – no longer going up and down – and there will probably be some scum on the top. There will also be a white sediment on the base that you can discard when you bottle the ginger beer. Don’t push the corks in too tightly – and refrigerate to slow down any ongoing fermentation. Give it a day or two in the fridge before you start tasting:)

Woke up at 7:00 and all of the raisins were floating (only 14 hrs of fermentation). Gave it a good stir and could hear the carbonation. Surely it is not ready to bottle after such a sort time? Temp in house is 76deg, so not too hot. Going to leave it for a few more hrs sealed and see what happens.

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